There are very few reputable companies that lets users buy bitcoin with credit card, and does this efficiently and safely. This leaves. This leaves Bitcoiners who want to buy Bitcoin with their credit card 2 main options – Coinbase and Coinmama.
The two companies have been around for almost 4 years and have built quite a reputation. I have reviewed Coinmama and also Coinbase on several occasions however I’ve never directly compared the two.
Today I want to do just that.
I’m going to see how far will $150 go if you buy Bitcoins with your credit card at either of these exchanges. The reason I chose $150 is because that’s the amount you can buy Bitcoins without verification at Coinmama and it’s also the weekly limit for instant buy on Coinbase.
August 2017 Update: Coinbase now lets you buy up to $500 weekly. Coinmama now requires verification even below $150 (once verified you can purchase up to $30,000 a month.).
Countries accepted
Coinbase – currently the more reputable Bitcoin exchange accepts customers from 33 countries around the world.
Coinmama – Accepts buyers worldwide excluding some high risk countries. If you live in the US however, Coinmama is only available in these states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin.
Verification process
Coinbase – In order to buy Bitcoins with you credit card at Coinbase you’ll need to:
- Supply a photo id for verification
- Verify two small charges made by Coinbase to your card
The photo id verification is an automated process and can be completed relatively quick, having said that some users are experiencing issues with it. Also the mini charges on your credit card may sometimes take a few days to show up on your credit card balance. To sum it up, it doesn’t seem like you’ll be able to get your Bitcoins instantly if this is the first time you’re buying at Coinbase.
Coinmama – If you’re buying up to $150 worth of Bitcoins you don’t need to upload any documents for verification. You will however need to supply your address and verify your email address. The process at Coinmama is much quicker and can take anywhere between instant and one hour.
Fees
Coinbase – Depending on where you live Coinbase will charge a service fee (3.99%). This means that $150 are effectively only $144.15.
Coinmama – There is a 5% credit card processing fee. This means that your $150 is effectively $142.5.
Exchange rate
This is probably the biggest difference of them all. At the time of writing this post the exchange rate on Coinbase is $8,072 for 1 BTC, on Coinmama on the other hand it’s $8,516, that’s 5.5% more.
So while $150 on Coinbase will get you 0.01858276 BTC, on Coinmama they will get you only 0.0176139 BTC.
Support
Throughout the last few years I’ve heard complaints about support from both companies, however I can say from first hand experience that Coinbase’s support is indeed as bad as it gets. You receive as a response usually within 3 days and even then it will probably be some canned response without any reference to your specific case. For more information about my experience with Coinbase read this post. With Coinmama I’ve managed to get my issues resolved in a timely manner.
The verdict – Coinbase or Coinmama?
I think there’s no straight answer for this, as both companies have their strong suits and weaknesses. In the end it boils down to what you value most.
If you’re looking for a quick transaction and decent customer support I’d go with Coinmama. If on the other hand, value for money is the most important aspect I’d go with Coinbase. Both companies have been around long enough to prove they are here to stay, the call is yours.
One final (and very important) thing. If you value your privacy I’d definitely stay away from Coinbase. The company has been known for tracking user funds and also banning accounts if they think the fund are being used for questionable purposes. You can read more about this phenomena here.
Coinbase has my wire transfer tied up for 6 weeks and scared me too much. Coinmama was great to use, also Cointelligensia was terrific service
Hi, thanks for the insight.
Just curious after reading your post – will Bitfinex accept ETH from Coinmama? I’ve read Bitfinex do not accept ETH from Coinmama as it is a smart contract. If not, do you know if Binance will or alternatively, will it accept bitcoins instead of ETH? Do you recommend other exchanges that I can buy IOTA. Will I need to set up an intermediary wallet or can I transfer bitcoins or ETH directly from Coinmama to Binance or Bitfinex?
I would like to set up and transfer funds from Coinmama or any other broker that offers lower commission rates to these exchanges but prefer it be painless and learn from others who’ve actually gone through the process. Thanks in advance.
Hi Rampee,
I don’t see why Bitfinex wouldn’t accept ETH sent directly from CoinMama… That doesn’t really make sense. If it happens to be true, then you could just withdraw the ETH from CoinMama to your private wallet before sending it on to Bitfinex. I would double-check this info however, as I’m 90% sure it won’t be a problem to send ETH from CoinMama to BFX.
Here’s the full list of exchanges which offer IOTA:
https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/iota/#markets
I’d say BFX or Binance are indeed the best options.
I have lost over 15k USD at this time from days and hours of research AND I have over 2 months…uncounted hours trying to be verified by coin mama…and coinbase.
All I keep getting is excuses in emails…and continual instructions to repeat the process…I AM NOT A BABOON….this is totally screwed up…I am a veteran living on 1100 usd a month in the poverty level….all i want to do is to be given the chance to crawl out and be able to survive…like a normal human being….IF YOU COINBASE with your ongoing we will get to you soon…or repeat this process and then lock me out..notices can PLEASE help me – this goes for you to Coin Mama…..how about a little help?????????????????????????????
It keeps saying plug in codes….I have no codes sent to me…HELPPPPPPPPPPPPP?????
have you gotten assistance yet? have you been able to log into your account?
Thank you for your service. PLease don’t use bitcoin air they got me for $1600. Same with Bitforextrade they got me for $500.
In last two days I tried tomput like 20 orders and all of them have been failed .
There is non problem with credit cards and actually all the payments go through ansthen returned by coinmama and all orders have been failed . I tried to contactyour support team and unfortunately they do not response at all.
some of the orders number are
BBT27809218
BBT27809754
most likely they are out of bitcoin stocks or they dont want to sell at crash rate
Coinmama are reliable but there’s too many verifications and the fees are too high, well i prefer hand to hand business. i bought 2,000$ worth of bitcoins from **email removed**. He was very fast intransacting with me. He’s reliable and efficient. No need for ID card verification and all that bullshit. I think You guys should check him out
I am new to cryptocurrency. No transection yet. After reading your review, I made an account on mamacoin and tried to buy Ether for US$100. It went for address plus ID requirements. Is it O.K. I mean you said no I.D required till $150 transection/
Hi AKkkk,
Thanks for pointing this out. It looks like CoinMama’s policies have changed. Reading on their support page about verification, it seems like you need some form of government-issued ID to buy an amount of crypto up to $10,000. You can see the relevant page here:
https://support.coinmama.com/hc/en-us/articles/211854805-Verification-levels
I will point this new situation out so the article can be updated. I believe it will safe for you to give CoinMama you ID – although I can’t guarantee perfectly safe… Giving that kind of info to any services always carries some degree of risk of identity theft. I don’t have any reason to suspect CoinMama of wrongdoing or being vulnerable to hackers, I’m just saying in general that it’s a risk. If you don’t wish to take this risk, then a decentralised exchange such as LocalBitcoins is one way to avoid it.